In writing, profanity is a tool, but not the only tool

In this week’s Writing Excuses comments, a poster named Sam asked: How do you, as writers, get past your own inhibitions concerning the use of profanity in order to write a character who does use it? Why get past them? Any given audience has values (as do you as a writer). Stomp on the values

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Four-letter words and fiction

Here’s Joseph Finder, a NY Times best-selling author, talking about how he studied his craft, why he uses outlines, and what he decided about four-letter words and why. I had the same reaction when my daughter came to me wanting to read my stuff. I’ve never heard of Joseph Finder–there are soooo many authors these days.

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